It was my privilege to meet Wilbur and Arlene Harrison. They are members of those who will welcome you to their homes and pastures, making you feel like a family member. Thank you for knowing them and thanking my life.
Although it is possible to make a living after the dust ball and the Great Depression, it has survived through trials of many lives and fighting. They were not wealthy in terms of money but they were rich in many areas of their lives. Harrison was a very proud and loving Christian. Knowing them was an honor for me.
I visited frequently in the ranch of Oklahoma Northwest in the late 1990s. I was there on a dry windy day in the spring where local television stations and national radio stations interrupted the broadcast warning of the danger of strong winds and extreme fires. It was the day Wilbur Harrison almost brought the world beside the fire.
I morning at a neighboring town in Woodward. And back to the ranch heading north of Highway 50 towards Freedom, I saw dark black smoke raising the sky high. As I approached Harrison Ranch, I saw the proper cause of the blowing smoke. Wilbur, age 90, was riding a horse-riding lawn mower along the soil where hearing is difficult and partly blind farmers lead to the pasture. When he is striving, he never turns back to see the damage he caused.
Screaming, "This is crazy!" I attempted to call his son Henry on his cell phone to warn him of the situation. I called the fire department when I did not reach him. Helplessness, I saw the destruction caused by the old man in his torch.
Move slowly to his pasture, Wilbur kept on lighting. The wheat field surrounding his area was intense and the telephone pole and telephone pole fell behind him. This site looked like a war zone. Wilber recently stopped driving due to lack of sight, and went round the ranch using a horse riding lawn mower. He did not know the terrible destruction caused by the fire while rolling the riding lawn mowers to the ranch. He continued to light the fire, did not look around behind him, apparently believed he was doing something to help with his help on the farm.
I listened to the siren and I was relieved to see the fire engine rain on the scene. As the firefighter approached, Wilber was shy and shocked and shouted to stop the fire.
A few weeks later, the old man received a bill from the telegraph company and asked to pay the replacement cost of the burned pillar.
It was a tragic day for him that Wilbur Harrison pierced the car key into the cave and stopped driving. He spent the day running through the field on the farm, confirmed that the tractor was rolling and the harvesting was completed. When he went down the mud road to the field of wheat, he ran straight to the rear of the farm stopped on the road. He was not physically injured in the accident, but this incident had a great blow to Wilbur's pride. That night, he handed the track key to his son and said, "I have driven." His sight has lost him for a while. He was limited in sight from the corners of his eyes, but he could not see anything straight. It was obviously sad that Wilbur gave up trackkeys and independence.
On the day following the truck incident he warned his wife Arlene to drive him around the ranch. The elderly couple took the daily evening drive and saw the progress of the new oil well drilled in the past across the highway from their ranch. Like the children, they were excited about the oil wells and gas wells that were excavated in their land which they had expected from the wells the monetary interest they expected.
Wilbur was not a wealthy man, but he had a very generous side. He writes checks on his birthday and Christmas to his children, grandchildren and future children. They came all around, especially Christmas, to pick up the money. Foster parents rarely go to the ranch in places other than Christmas, but they seemed to worship Wilbur and Arlene. This couple brought up their four children and some foster parents with poor farm income. Wilbur or Arlene loved them all the same way. That was their way.
Before Alleen suffered from Alzheimer 's disease, she and Wilbur sat on a dusty old wooden swing at the front porch of a ranch house on a warm summer night. Grasping hands seemed to be in love with each other and began to have many things in life.
On rare opportunities, cars and pickup trucks will be pulled by the roadway at the ranch. Arlene, who was in the early stages of Alzheimer's, worked as an eye for Wilbur. He asks "Mommy, who is it?" If she knows, Allee will say who is there and what is going on. She woke up and lastly was her own brain. They often worked together and were indivisible during the last years.
Arlene was a nice looking, strong farm woman, before her ugly disease totally took over her body and soul. As her illness progressed, she developed a habit of mastering to assert that they belong to her. She does not realize what she was doing wrongly, she lifts and carries what she can put in her pocket.
Alleen was just plain. When men go out in the field or disappear during the day, she unconsciously roamed around the farm. Her favorite hobby was picking up a stick that fell from a broken tree and using it for firewood.
One early spring day, the elderly Arlene is headed for Freedom with a wagon at her old Taurus station. Along the way to the town, she came to the hitchhiker who flagged her. She stopped the car and picked up a raging man and asked, "Where are you heading?" He said, "I need to get to Kansas." Even without thinking again, Arlene carries him to Kansas for over 35 miles. She arrived in Kansas, knocked the hitchhiker, she took home from the public phone and told Wilbur what she did, and she was on his way home. Immediately after that incident, the family decided that it was not safe for Arlene to drive any further. They came to conceal the key of the car.
One day, when Henry returned to the ranch from a trip to Freedom's feed shop, he found Arlene only in the bullpen with several bulls. She was hitting each of her noses with the switch she had in her hand. That day, because God felt her intimidation for Arlene, she had to be able to walk without paying her. She noticed that she was in trouble when she heard that the worried son shouted "Please put hell out of there!" He ran for her rescue. Arlene quietly walked around her breath. Those hermit crabs will not leave here!
One morning, the boy who watched Arlene and asked not to allow her to drive a car left the pasture. Soon after Wilbur, he called from the wheat field "Drive a red farm and meet me in a tree field." He said, "There are two gas tanks in the truck, one is near the sky and the other is full of gas, I tried to obey his instructions but I will switch to full gas tank properly Arlene who finished exchanging gas stations walked behind me and came walking, "What are you doing, where do you go to my truck?"
Arlene argued that she would ride when I explained that I was taking a shovel to Wilbur in the field. About five miles down the road, the truck in the farm runs out of gas. Arlene was upset and made a waste effort to calm her. "I'm waiting here for the truck and returning to the ranch to get the gas." 80-year-old Arlene would not argue that she was walking with me.
Friendly neighbors and his beautiful sons stand up as thought to tie the stubborn old lady to the steering wheel and fix it to the pickup. Jed asked. "You have two people?" We explained that the gas was gone. He got 5 gallons on my truck. It's enough gas to put you back to the pasture. "
Jed's son, he called Buba, praised gas for the tank. Thank you for your help, I set up an old truck and returned to the ranch. Arlene got mad, "I want to see Wilbur! We have to find him! I clap your gimmicky! We have not returned to the ranch! Let's find my husband! Although she tried to be calm, she did not calm down, Even though she was 80 years old, she looked stronger than a cow, even if deep-fried, ignoring the threat of Arlene , I returned to the ranch.
Parking a red farm truck in front of the old farmer, I ran for the safety of the ranch bedroom. Knowing that Arlene was running towards the torus, I moved quickly, opened the door, removed the key and walked two steps, so I took off at the dead side of the second house. Arlene was behind me, putting in my hands, swearing, I claimed to drop the key. When I borrowed the hill and got off to a two-story house, Arlene was nearby. When I got to the bedroom, I opened the door and jumped into it. I hit the door and closed behind me, I locked it and immediately stacked up the color of the windows.
Arlene acted like a cow cow and cried screamingly as she beat the bedroom door. I tried to call Wilbur picking up the phone, but he did not answer. Calming my mind and waiting for it, I kept the two houses from showing any signs to Arlene. I know that she knows running in me. I moved quietly like a mouse around the kitchen and was steadily walking so as not to make a noise. I learned that the last person I was angry that day was Arlene Harrison that day. Her son said, "Please be careful for Mama, she is pretty temper, please do not make her angry.
It seemed to be an hour ago when Arlene was trying to break into a two-story house. I was relieved to see her go upstairs and enter the farmhouse. I confined the rest of the day in my bedroom, closed the door tightly, kept the TV low, and turned off the lights in fear of Arlene returning with ammo. This was life at Freedom Ranch.
It is sometimes seen that Arlene goes up and down the stairs several times a day from the ranch house to the second floor house. When the entrance door is locked, she hits the door and shouts and listens to the window, is it there? Who will be in there? What are you doing there? When Arlene found a man entering the two houses, she went through the front door behind him and lowered the stairs. Her behavior seemed to be a direct result of the worsening of the disease.
Alzheimer quickly destroyed Arlene's life and she eventually stayed in a care facility in Mooreland, Oklahoma. She had existed for several years, but despite receiving the necessary care at home, she never lost her farm and family. The wonderful life that Arlene knew as a farmer's wife has gone away forever.
In spite of such a situation Arlene took a very long time to lose her spank. She is trying to escape from the nursing home by stealing open doors. She can wander around the outside grass that confuses the nurse and know exactly what she is giving birth. Arlene kicked without letting out her secret. Occasionally she sneaks into the room to wipe away the old man's chocolate and wanders up and down the hall. It became a game among them: she steals and she shouts loudly.
While visiting Arlene in a nursing home, I was grasped and grasped by a mentally disabled patient Rusty restrained in the wheelchair. He confessed his love for me loudly and begged me not to leave him and hugged me at my feet. The nurse had not forgotten handshake. He hurt when he heard the scream of desire. It broke my heart and I could not do anything to stop the misfortune that was suffering in the nursing home. Rusty wanted my attention. While I was there and trying to make Rusty happy I was torn apart while caring for Arlene.
I felt that it was very sad that many other residents of the nursing home for the nursing had no visitors. After each visit, I think It is not fun to raise old things. The poor people who really care about whether they are alive or dead. I thank Jesus for my healthy mind and health! When my mind and body no longer serve me, I noticed that I am dead rather than alive.
It was by God's will that Arlene could be held for several years after being trapped in the house. When she died, she did not know where she was, she was a vegetable. She lost her ability to talk. The only sound you heard is bass. She was alive by the needle and tube of her arm. Life has not been left in her beautiful blue eyes for the rest of her life.
When I visit, sometimes I realize that there are bruises and breaks in the extremities of Ahlen. She greatly disturbed me that I was not able to tell anyone what happened. When I asked the nurse, I say that Arlene fell from the bed or fell from the chair. I doubted the abuse, but I could not prove it.
The funeral of Arrone was held at Freedom Christian Church, an appropriate funeral for Christian Christian's great woman. Expressing the love that many people testified and they felt for her was a great funeral. Everyone in the church loved her. There was no offensive word issued about Arlene Harrison. She had many friends who acknowledged that the world had lost a wonderful woman.
She spent a lot of young children growing up in Oklahoma's oil work camp without knowing strangers. It was not a big deal for her and Wilbur to share the food they ate with the perfect stranger. On the day the horse trader stopped at the ranch to make a horse deal, Arlene invited him for dinner. The cowboy was thankful for the hot meal that continues to compliment Arlene with her good dish. Wilbur assumed that a stranger was seducing Arlene, he did not like it. Before strangers finished eating, jealous Wilber left him and shouted from the front porch. I have no horses to sell to you. Pick up your saddle and take your ass from my wealth! "When a drifting person gets off the road, Wilbur picked up the fork and nodded to the surprised children and returned to the dinner table, It is okay! Let's eat! "
Although it was a blessing she no longer suffered, the whole family seemed to have had a terrible time to deal with Arlene 's death, especially her husband, Wilbur.
Arlene 's funeral wondered what happened to my funeral. I did not expect that such a large voting rate, or such a great testimony, told me about my life. I had to memorize my dear mother who died in the early '70s. And I said a little prayer for both great women You can always rest in peace!
